Paul Bley from 1965

paul bley by Len Dobbin.

In 1950 Paul Bley went to NYC to study composition and conducting at Juilliard. He did quite a bit of jamming around town while he was in NY.

My first meeting with Paul came in 1952 when the executive of the Emanon Jazz Society was meeting at Pat Sorrentino's home in the town of Mt. Royal. I had heard about Paul but had neither met nor heard him play. We lived in the same general direction and had a long conversation on the way home on the bus. He left inviting me to drop in on a rehearsal of his group. The next day after school was out I wended my way down to the Latin Quarter where Paul was rehearsing with Bob Roby, tenor sax, Neil Michaud, bass and Billy Graham, drums. The group was an excellent one and I was looking forward to dropping down to hear them in action but fate stepped in with a fire at the club and they never opened. Around this time Paul recorded some mambos which were released on the local Silver label. One was a very melodic original called "Like The Moon Above You". Paul returned to New York and recorded with Oscar Pettiford and Kenny Clarke for the Stinson label. This was never released which was surprising for, judging from the acetates I heard, it was a very good record.

Paul returned to Montreal in 1953 and almost immediately formed the Jazz Workshop. There then followed an excellent jazz period in Montreal history. It started, musically, on Feb.5 with a CBC TV show featuring Charlie Parker,Brew Moore, Dick Garcia, Paul, Neil Michaud and Ted Paskert.

There are still tapes of that show floating around anyone who has been listening to jazz with any regularity knows that a revolution is going on. One of the musicians at the core of this revolution is Canadian pianist Paul Bley.

Bley was born in Montreal on November 10, 1932. His first instrument was the violin which he began playing at the age of 5. He started on piano when he was 8 and got a junior diploma from McGill Conservatory at the age of 11. He led his own bands in high school and around Montreal. In 1949 at the age of 17 he replaced Oscar Peterson at the Alberta Lounge when Oscar left for the U.S. Paul stayed and twelve years later the playing still stands up. The following evening the workshop was set to open at the Maroon Club but at the last minute the management changed its mind. Somehow Bley in the very short time before the set opening got hold of a room above the Video Cafe on Dorchester Street and with someone stationed at the door of the Maroon Club directing people to the new location, the club opened on schedule with a quintet made up of those presented on the TV show with the exception of Bird. Bird was presented in a memorable concert at the Chez Paree on the Saturday afternoon of that week.

Jazz continued at the Workshop with Bley and Michaud working with people like Sonny Rollins, Lennie McBrowne, Allen Eager, Sam Most, Kai Winding, Floyd Williams, Jackie McLean and Arthur Taylor till April of that year.Paul with Michaud and Paul Lafortune then opened at the Venus De Milo room.

The Workshop continued to present concerts at the Chez Paree and it was at one of these that I first heard Herbie Spanier. Bley also presented a few concerts at the Cavendish Cafe and Al Haig and tenorman Coleman Hopins (sic) were among those featured.

The Seville Theatre was presenting a variety of attractions at this time and when the Red Norvo trio appeared there it made way for a session, I'll always remember, on June 25 with just Paul and Red Mitchell playing in a very small rehearsal room on St. Catherine Street.

Paul then returned to NYC and on November 30 recorded with Charles Mingus and Art Blakey for the Debut label.

In 1954 Paul was the subject of a "File For The Future" article by Bill Coss in Metronome. He worked as intermission group at Basin Street, opposite Louis Armstrong, with Art Phipps, bass and Alan Levitt, drums. The group received a quite favorable review from Nat Hentoff. In July of that year while reviewing a Bley recording Hentoff said, "Bley is unmistakeably a jazzman to watch. With experience and maturity, he could become one of the major ones."

Paul returned to Montreal at the end of April of '54 and started a very stimulating trio engagement at the Black Magic Room of the Chez Paree with Al Cotton, bass and Levitt, drums which lasted into July. This was also the year that he recorded for Wing with Peter Ind, Percy Heath and Levitt. He returned to NY and played Carnegie Hall with a group that included Herbie Spanier.

In early 1955 he joined Chet Baker, replacing Al Haig, and went to LA with the group. Most of the latter part of the year he worked with his own quartet including Spanier, Ind and Levitt. They worked quite frequently in the Long Island area at places like the Copa City in St. Albans; the Pub and Victoria's in Hempstead and the Cork'N'Bib in Westbury.

Early in 1956 Paul turned up in an AMI juke box ad (sign of success). He moved around quite a bit during the year playing the Blue Note in Philadelphia, Roosevelt Lounge in Detroit, Tiajuana in Baltimore. He arrived in Montreal in August and was heard at New Orleans Cafe on Dorchester Blvd. where trumpeter Wilbur Harden was working at the time. Later that month he opened at the Penthouse as a duo with Jeff Jefferson on bass. Working opposite them as a single was Carla Borg, a California girl, who later became Mrs. Bley. It was during this return home that I first noticed that his playing was undergoing a change.

In 1957 Paul went on a college tour with Hal Gaylor, bass (also a Montrealer) and Lennie McBrowne. They began in October in Council Bluffs, Iowa travelling in Bley's convertible averaging about 2000 miles a week. The trio arrived in LA and Bley got his union card and began what was to be a long stay there and a most important part of his musical career. In April he was at the Cosmo Club with Charlie Haden (the first of a number of astonishing bassists he was to find) and McBrowne. Then they played Zucca's Cottage and then the long engagement at the Hillcrest where he was to spend most of his time while in California. At the Hillcrest he added vibist Dave Pike and Carla Borg was writing charts for the book.

The Hillcrest must have been almost the Minton's of the new thing. There was a great deal of jamming there, one could find Carla Borg and Ornette Coleman sitting in the kitchen writing charts. Ornette and Don Cherry, Scott LaFaro, Bobby Hutcherson are just a few of the people heard there. The Bley group was very experimental using odd time signatures and free improvisation. Paul tells me that Haden used to play ten minute bass solos on one note that would have the audience standing on the tables. Someone else said they walked in one night and there were five trumpet players on the stand jamming.

In October the quartet appeared at an open air concert where they premiered a 3 movement work by Carla Borg (Bley).

Paul began 1958 at the Hillcrest, then they went off to Vancouver to play the Cellar(I believe) and later the Jazz Workshop in San Francsico before returning to LA and the Hillcrest. About mid year they expanded to a quintet with the addition of Anthony Ortega's sax. Ortega was later replaced by Herbie Spanier. This was also the year that Ornette and Don arrived in LA and after jamming at Hillcrest they eventually became part of Bley's revamped quintet in November of that year.

In 1959 Bley worked at the Masque with Bobby Hutcherson, Scott LaFaro and Nick Martinis. Then back to the Hillcrest with Dave Pike. Other spots he worked in the first half of the year were the Unicorn and Zebra Lounge. Billy Higgins was his drummer part of this period. He moved on to San Francisco to play Mr. Smith's and in August I was sitting in the Cafe St. Jacques on a Tuesday evening where Rene Thomas was playing at a Montreal Jazz Society meeting when, as I looked up, there was Paul with Carla standing alongside. He played with Thomas that night and I found that his style, which was notably changed on the GNP lp he recorded while in was at the Hillcrest, had changed even more. The piano we heard that night and later, again in the company of Thomas, at the Little Vienna was highly stimulating. He was in town to get his US papers and was then headed for N. Y. with no job prospects. While he was waiting for his papers there were a great many get togethers at Art Roberts' house spent discussing his music, Carla's writing and Ornette and of course a great deal of playing with Stan Zadak and Billy Barwick among those in attendance as well as this writer.

Shortly after his arrival in N. Y. he was approached by Ran Blake to play a concert at Bard College. Fate again stepped in for this was the first time he played with Steve Swallow and composer George Russell was in the audience. Swallow, who had no idea of how Bley played, found a real affinity for his music and decided to make music his career. Russell was planning a recording for two pianos and after hearing Paul, approached him to join Bill Evans in recording his music. Bley was rather skeptical but with some prodding from Carla decided to do it. Both he and Evans were very happy with the results. I don't know about Russell as I have never spoken to him, but I feel he must have been pleased too.

In 1960 Paul played with Charles Mingus for awhile before joining the Jimmy Giuffre Three along with Steve Swallow. He stayed with Giuffre until 1963 but kept busy around NY when Giuffre wasn't working. In early 1961 he and Steve were working at Phase Two with Don Ellis. They recorded for Candid in April of that year but the record was never released. In July he appeared at Newport with Ellis and Henry Grimes.

In August I paid a visit to NY and found Carla working at Phase Two with Steve Swallow on bass and later Paul would come in and sit in. Hearing he and Steve play together for the first time is another listening experience I'll never forget. In September he arrived back in Montreal for a family visit and secured a solo engagement at Greenwich Village in the Laurentians. We got there in the late afternoon and took in the fresh mountain air Paul did some swimming and we had a long conversation about many varied subjects over a good supper. That night Paul played some fantastic piano for a rather sparse crowd.

In July of 1962 he went to LA with Don Ellis where they appeared at the Lighthouse as well as recording for World Pacific. He played Montreal with the Giuffre Three in August at the Montreal Festival and stayed in town for a four day engagement at the Tetede L'Art with Don Habib and Pierre Beluse. Earlier he had toured Germany with Giuffre. In 1963 I caught him with Giuffre at the Take Three but it was the next afternoon that was the musical standout for I heard him for the first time with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian.

In May he left Giuffre to go with Sonny Rollins with whom he toured Japan and recorded with Sonny and Coleman Hawkins for RCA after their appearance at Newport.

He and Carla arrived for a short visit here in August and Paul sat in with Rene Thomas, who had just returned from Europe, and played a solo on "Sonnymoon For Two" that was one of the best I've ever heard. In December he returned to play an engagement at the Penthouse here with Gary Peacock and Pierre Beluse, with Prince Lasha sitting in on A number of occasions.

He left Rollins in 1964 and formed his own group for the first time in years. They played a concert at Bard College. His first lp under his own name since 1957, with Swallow and LaRoca, was released on Savoy and he worked around New York, mainly at the Cellar, with Farrell Saunders, Peacock and Motian. He visited Montreal briefly and was heard jamming at both the Casa Loma and Black Bottom. In September he appeared at the Cellar with a new quintet made up of Dewey Johnson, trumpet; Cuiseppi Logan-alto; David Izenson, bass and Rashied Ali, drums.

He also took part in the "October Revolution" at the Cellar. After that the musicians got together and formed a Guild and they put on a series of Concerts at Judson Hall at the end of the year. Paul appeared with a quintet made up of Manny Smith, trumpet; Marshall Allen, alto;Eddie Gomez, bass and Milford Graves, drums and also appeared with the Jazz Composers Guild Orchestra.

Canadians always seem to think of Oscar Peterson and Maynard Ferguson as this country's gift to jazz but I think Paul Bley is the most important Canadian to emerge on the US jazz scene. In the October 1963 issue of JAZZ in answerto the question "Which musician do you think the most influential in jazz today?" Nat Hentoff, in replying, added this footnote" "He isn't a major influence yet, but pay attention to Paul Bley". I hope you will.

DISCOGRAPHY: Paul Bley-Trio (Debut); Trio (Wing) ; Solemn Meditation (GNP); Footloose (Savoy); Don Ellis-Essence (Pacific Jazz) ; Charles Mingus-Mingus (Candid); Pre-Bird (Mercury); George Russell-Jazz In The Space Age (Decca); Jimmy Giuffre-Fusion (Verve); Thesis (Verve); Free Fall (Columbia) Sonny Rollins-Meets Hawk (RCA). The Russell and the Savoy trio lps are especially recommended.

Ref : Coda Magazine 1965, photo by Len Dobbin